Ch.29: The First Dream (2)
Chapter 29: Setz, Sai, and Bathory are in a room together when the door is slamed opened and Neal, along with Carne, step in. Setz sees the bandages across Neal's face and asks about his eye. Neal glares at Setz for a while, says nothing and turns away. To Setz's unpleasant surprise, Carne informs him that Navarus planted his 'ability' in Neal's eye. Neal interrupts Carne by yelling, "Quiet!". He then proceeds to rant about how they should mind their own business and how he will definitely kill Navarus. Sai is left amazed by what he is hearing, while Bathory smiles. Setz calmly tells Neal to watch what he says about his father, since Setz has already pardoned him fort his words too many times. Neal begrudgingly stops talking and turns his back to Setz and the others. Setz then tells Carne to prepare for her speech. When he asks the girl if she has memorized what she has to say, Neal intervenes and informs the others that there is a student who got hurt. Meanwhile, a veiled woman welcomes Lark and asks him to look back at the choice he has made. Lark is then floating where Crepuscule's red sky meets the human world's blue sky. At the human world, Lark looks at a memory of his younger self calling his parents while crying about how the other humans harass him for having red eyes. At the vampires' world, Lark views a happy memory in which he talks to Angela about having made some new friends and about being happy, and another one in which he is playing with a baby fox. Lark now appears in front of a tree which has the veiled woman sitting beneath it. Lark asks the woman if they are in a dream and who she is. The veiled woman ignores his questions and says, "Do you like being normal? But you are special. At least in this place. If you had another choice... Would you accept it? If you want to go back. You can. You are not a person of this world. The shallow happiness and...loneliness that comes from being special. This place can only offer you these. You have to alway live on the edge as a stranger. No one can treat you truthfully. Because you have a special secret that you must keep your whole life." Stunned by what the woman has said, Lark asks, "...You'll...send me back...over 'there'...?" The woman responds, "I can. By coming to me... You have gained a choice. I do not want to give you a shallow happiness. But keep in mind that you will only have one chance." Lark murmurs the word "shallow", and thinks of Angela and the friends he has made at Crepuscule. He declines the woman's offer, thinking that at least Angela knows about his human identity and even if there is just one person who does, that's enough for him . The woman smiles and says, "I respect your choice...".